Wednesday, January 04, 2017

PAKISTAN - Land-grabbing and assault on Pakistani Christians in Sindh

For Christians in Pakistan the new year opens with a painful issue:
mafia organizations in cahoots with the police in Sukkur, in the
district of Hyderabad (Sindh province in southern Pakistan) planned an
attack against Christian inhabitants in Sukkur, trying to drive them out
from their properties: houses and land.

Christians are victims of a widespread phenomenon in Pakistan,
land-grabbing (misappropriation of land), so some powerful landowners,
with political support, arbitrarily confiscate the lands of poor and
vulnerable farmers. The phenomenon is quite common in Sindh, where the
seized lands are sold with high profits.
As Fides learns, the Christian, Munawar Gill, a resident in the area,
and former official of the Anglican diocese of Hyderabad, explained that
in recent weeks some men presented themselves in the Christian
settlement in Sukkur, with false documentation and claiming the right of
the property.

"It is not hard to buy fake documents in Pakistan", says
Gill.

On December 21, some police officers asked Christian families
ownership certificates, without which they would have had to leave their
homes.
On December 31, about 20 men, some wearing police uniforms and some in
civilian clothes, started knocking on the door of Christian homes and
those who opened the doors were intimidated and beaten. "Women and
children were abused and about 20 people were injured, some seriously",
says Gill to Fides.
After the attack, on January 1, Christian residents went to the police
to register a complaint, demanding adequate protection. About 4,500
people gathered in front of the Sukkur Press Club to denounce the
arbitrariness suffered by Christians in Sukkur.

A note sent to Fides by
the NGO Centre for Legal Aid, Assistance and Settlement (CLAAS)
condemned the "horrible and brutal action" and accident "while
Christians were preparing to celebrate the New Year" urging the
authorities to enforce the rule of law to stop "land mafia" that targets
the most vulnerable communities, trampling on the basic rights of
Pakistani citizens.